Going For Gold: 3 Key Trends In Rio Olympic Ads

The Rio Olympics are so close now we can almost smell the Deep Heat. So, while the world’s biggest brands and advertisers get ready to battle it out, we thought we’d identify some of the key creative ad trends we have already noticed ahead of next Friday’s Opening Ceremony.

Certainly, looking through this year’s crop of ads, it’s already clear that advertisers aiming for gold in 2016 are dialling up the emotional intensity of their content. We’ve already seen plenty of stark imagery, pounding soundtracks, and emotive speeches – all things that get people talking about and sharing ads.

At Cannes Lions this year, Unilever CMO Keith Weed declared ‘the time is right for us as an industry to challenge and change how we portray gender in our advertising’. His message was backed up by the announcement of the FMCG giant’s UnStereotype initiative, and comes in the wake of a steady rise in empowering portrayals of women in ads.

Brands like Always and Dove have been leading the charge in recent years, shifting their marketing efforts towards realistic representations of women and highlighting causes that champion gender equality.

With everyone still dealing with #CannesComedown, we’ve rounded up the five best ads you might have missed from the last seven days.

This week’s selection is a summery bunch, with Tesco Mobile prepping us for a holiday, and Volkswagen encouraging us to play outside. We’ve also got a weird moment with a cat, an appearance from living-legend Danny Glover, and the return of the femvertising juggernaut #LikeAGirl. (more…)

Back in 2014 Always jumped on the biggest video advertising trend of the year – femvertising – with its “#LikeAGirl” campaign.

The P&G brand released the video to try and challenge traditional gender stereotypes and drive home the message that being “girlie” isn’t a bad thing. The ad performed so well that the personal care company used a shorter version of the same spot as its 2015 Super Bowl spot.

Clearly a company that knows how to jump on a trend when it sees one, Always is at it again. In its latest ad campaign, it takes on the gender roles of emojis.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Louise Tullin, Marketing and Communications Director EMEA at video ad tech Unruly, looks at the way brands are changing the way they advertise to women.

‘This Girl Can’. ‘Inspire Her Mind’. ‘I Will What I Want’. These are the titles of ad campaigns, supporting products as varied as sporting goods and telecommunications. But what connects these promotions is that they represent a sea change in the role of women in the world of advertising. Advertising is slowly but steadily changing its treatment of gender roles, and the smartest brands are leading the charge.

There’s nothing like an unseasonably warm British summer to make every activity feel like exercise. Waiting for the bus? If the sun’s shining, it’s probably exercise. Staff meeting? If you’re sitting outside, it’s probably exercise. Drinking frosty ciders in the park while considering playing Ultimate Frisbee? Definitely exercise. (more…)

You will not believe the trash talk coming out of these kids’ mouths in AdLand this week!

After a week watching the best (and sadly worst) video ads on the web, we’ve picked the five essential ones to watch so you can spend the rest of your time enjoying the weekend.

What is your favourite online video ad? VW’s “The Force“? Volvo’s “Epic Split”? Dumb Ways to Die? Well, to mark its 10th anniversary, YouTube recently polled its users to identify their favourite ad of the decade – and the result is a little surprising.

The online video platform announced the top 5 earlier today and at the top of the pile is Turkish Airlines’ “Kobe v Messi: The Selfie Shootout”. The ad, starring arguably the two biggest sports stars on the planet, ran away the public vote, despite attracting fewer shares by some way than the rest of ads in the top 5 (it managed a share rate of less than 0.5%). In fact, it does not even make it into the top 100 most shared ads of all time.